CAUTION: Party affiliation may cause a complete inability to maintain independent thought.
On April 16, 2007, Connie M. Meskimen's letter to the editor of the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette was published. In it, she blames Democrats for global warming. She writes that Congress should have considered the "warming effect that an extra hour of daylight would have on our climate" when starting Daylight Savings Time nearly one month early this year. (Yes, you read that correctly.) Now, Ms. Meskimen did not actually believe this...she is an attorney in Little Rock known for her satirical letters. Not everyone reading this one, of course, will recognize that fact.
Assigning blame to the party you do not support is nothing new. Politics, in fact, could not likely survive in its current state without such finger pointing. This letter is the prime example of how clouded a person's thinking can get when looking for reasons to lack confidence in elected officials from "the other side." Clearly, Congress cannot produce an extra hour of daylight and, clearly, daylight savings time functions only to change the hours of the day that are sun-filled. Ms. Meskimen, however, writes convincingly that Arkansas experienced "the hottest March since the beginning of the last century" because Congress knew that there would be a warming effect and she suggest that "this is another plot by a liberal Congress to make us believe global warming is a real threat."
This letter is also an example of how people use random, often made up, "facts" to support their views. One can easily picture Ms. Meskimen sitting at a dinner party in Arkansas, telling everyone who will listen to her theory on global warming and using those "facts" to support the Republicans and prove that climate change is not really happening. Scariest of all is the fact that some people will actually find no fault in this attempt at logic and cast their ballots with her ideas in their minds.
Independent thought is a wonderful thing. Sharing opinions is even better. The fact that our country enables us to have these thoughts, share them with others, and even have them printed in a newspaper, are just three of the freedoms that make living in America so wonderful.
So, here is my request (from up here on my soap box) - please take the time to inform yourself before you express political views. As November 2008 continues to get closer, we will continue to hear more "facts" from television advertisements, radio interviews, and our neighbors. Take nothing at face value and learn the incredibly freeing feeling of knowledgeable voting. You might even surprise yourself by not voting the party line.
As Sandra Pinson, another Arkansas Democrat-Gazette readers responded on April 24, 2007, "What I am confused about is, no matter whether our clocks are set forward one hour or back one hour, don't we continue to have the same amount of daylight hours every day? I have decided, though, to be very careful about my voting in 2008. Whether conservative or liberal, I don't want to be guilty of voting in someone who has that much power over our weather!" There is a start - questioning the "facts" presented and staying open to a vote for either side.
___________________________________________________________________________
LAR, Politics Correspondent
LA's column, 'Clicks & Balances,' published every Thursday to Gather Essentials: Politics, is a tell-it-like-she-sees-it overview of hot political topics. There may be other days of the week that she just has to get her opinions out there, so be sure to check back often.
LA is an attorney with the federal government in Washington, DC. Having worked in all three branches of the government, there is nothing she loves more than a good discussion about politics and she welcomes your thoughts and questions. The challenge? Change her open mind - it does not happen often, but she looks forward to those rare occasions.
You can also find all of LA's Clicks and Balances columns at arguewithme.gather.com. Keep up with LA's other postings and Gather activity by joining her Gather network -- just click here arguewithme.gather.com and select the orange "Connect" button on the left-hand side of the page!
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Comments: 49
Lauren Alden Reid, I got a giggle out of that column. I stopped being Satirical because of a satirist, Tom Leher. A whole platoon of Combat Engineers took offense when I played "It makes a Fellow Proud to be a Soldier." I have a rib that tells the weather from that experience.
Thanks.
Therefore, do not vote for women.
Or are you being satirical here?
(I love satire. Let's don't kill it just because some people are too literal-minded to get it.)
Cathy
Although I frequently find myself disagreeing with you on a variety of matters, it is articles such as this that makes you one of the Gather correspondents whose articles I faithfully read.
Like Gerald Ford, I prefer having adversaries I can respect, rather than enemies. I just wish more people felt that way.
Cathy
Wish our so-called news organizations still believed in that.
Do you think it was just a coincidence that global warming's initials are GW? In the image of their creator...
Lauren, you are right on. If only more news agencies and politicians had taken a harder look instead of taking the White House's word for it, I think it would be safe to say a lot fewer people would be dead right now
During WW1 many were convinced that weather problems in the US were due the massive artillery barrages in France. Orson Wells caused nationwide panic with "War of the Worlds." Ronald Reagan took military counsel from Issac Asimov, a science FICTION writer and began "Star Wars" missile defense, a folly we're still dumping millions into. Dubya landed on an aircraft carrier and said "Mission Accomplished." People are easily fooled.
Lauren ... satire, yes ... but also grains of truth ... which political party typically held the majority of seats in the House of Representitives the last half of the twentieth century?
Thank you, thank you, thank you. Many of my comments mirrored your articles. Think for yourself and step outside your party line (if you have one).
Namaste, Wayne
Case in point: My daughter refused to crawl out of her Dodge Dakota pick-up truck for years. Yeah, well when gas headed up to $3/gallon, she invested the money to repair our Miata and is now saving herself around $300 a month driving it. That's like giving yourself a raise.
Green industries -- our next economic boom, I hope.
Of course that was then. This is now. And this evening I read Naomi Wolf's article, Ten Steps To Close Down an Open Society. I found it in the Huffington Post, dated April 24th. Scary reading.
What gets me about people is they say they are independent and vote for 'the man' not the party. What they fail to realize is that politicians are partisan animals, not independent thinkers and actors. Politicians only act based on the party line. People would be wise to thoroughly understand what each party represents, deep down and then realize that the politicians will act accordingly.
I worked in DC when Reagan was in office. The environment was terrible, then, as now. Worse, now.
We need more Dems in office for a longer period of time.
Mario: Too Late!
Troy S.: Amen brother! I often find myself deciding which candidate to back based not only on their platform, but their "viability" as a candidate in the media!
Paul G: Chuckle, chuckle!
Karl L: Read between the lines!
Sam C.: Haven't we won? Oh, sorry that was my dream!
Charlres M.: And yet they still smile all the way home!
Catherine F.: See comment for Karl L!
There was another post which suggested perhaps our critical thinking skills were lacking; as I enter the education field I am finding this more true than not. The freshman courses in Critical Research & Writing are the ones which provide the most stress for many students. Sifting through solid information and giving voice to the opposition is one task in which they are clueless and many wind up failing the portfolio. Rational and productive debate needs to be installed back into our secondary schools to promote citizens who are active in their thought and simply don't "jump aboard" every sound bite.
Lauren: Thanks for the insight. I remember a magazine called "Irrational Inquirer" put out by Steve Martin and other comedians decades ago. You would be surprised how many people believed the articles until they were told it was a "joke!" Perhaps sometimes we are our worst enemies!
I'm a little slow today so could you explain the change in daylight savings time as causing global warming? Especially considering the time of year when this occurs?
Thanks!
Kathryn is dead on right. In a way - so is Paul G. When you vote the man, not the party . . . you fail to realize the power of appointments and leadership to shape the decisions of the party . . . or the power the party has to control the man independent of his or her wishes.
Regards,
Doyle I <~~~~~
Just because you vote the man and not the party does not mean you are unaware of the power of appointments and the ability of the party to control the office! (both parties but especially the republican, to control the office. They like a candidate who cant find his way to the white house bathroom with the party leading him!) Not new, just stronger than it used to be.
Regarding global warming, I must say it astounds me that the concept of global warming is presented as a sudden, immediate danger. I remember as a schoolgirl in the 50's and 60's learning that we were still on the down (warming) side of the last glacier-age and that, as such, our climate was continuing to warm. Perhaps the warming has increased exponentially in more recent years? I don't know the "facts" on which the alarmists are basing their cries. And, having used such terminology, I DO care about our environment, the overuse of fluorocarbons, the abusive indulgence of fossil fuels while there is an abundance of easily-produced, renewable resources for the production of energy. Americans of all parties are equally guilty of this abuse with our obsession with gas-guzzling vehicles (how many per household?); excessive use of electronic equipment, appliances, and gagdets; overwatering yards when other more sensible and viable means are available (rain gardens, xeriscaping, et al), as well as the abuse of chemicals in our yards and in agriculture (again, far better alternatives are available, but suppressed by the big companies who lobby loudest in the capitol).
Re daylight savings time: I can't believe ANYONE would even think to blame one party or another for such a laughable, annoying, and useless tinkering with our time-keeping system. The practical reasons touted by the proponents are equally refuted by those who oppose it. My 88-year-old father likens daylight savings time to the old man whose blanket was too short -- he cut a foot-wide strip off the lower end and sewed it onto the upper end so it would reach his shoulders...
But daylight savings time has been around far longer than the claims anyone is making against political parties. It was Benjamin Franklin who first made the suggestion. Even Standard Time wasn't implemented until the mid-1880's in Britain and several decades later in the U.S. Here, Daylight Savings Time (officially called Daylight Saving Time, minus the terminal "s" in Savings) has been in use in various locations since the early 1900's, its use mushrooming following WWI. Even now, there are pockets of the U.S. that don't use DST at all, including a few counties in Indiana, and the state of Hawaii. Alaska only recently bought into its use.
I understand the article you reference was a satire, but too many -- even of your readers -- seem to have taken the issue seriously, which to me only indicates the degree to which people are too willing to let others do their thinking for them. The media has become a mind-numbing tool. "Tell us, oh journalist-gods, what to think, how to vote!" Most people I hear voicing their political opinions are just repeating -- too often verbatim -- what they've heard on the news programs, read in editorials, or heard on public radio (and yes, I'm an avid listener, but I don't believe everything I hear there any more than I do on my favorite gospel station). Americans no longer know how to reason for themselves. Unfortunately, even schools are telling children what to think, not how to think for themselves, how to reason, as Genine Hopkins so succintly stated above.
Lauren, PLEASE keep posting! We need unbiased, and unique observations that aren't simply repeating the media's mantras.
Enjoyed your comments! Did raise a question, how does one "abuse chemicals" and is there a place for an abused chemical to seek shelter? I've never seen an "abused" chemical or an "abused" drug for that matter.
Your last paragraph sounds like my dad did many years ago. The whole world is going to hell in a hand basket! People don't think, don't reason, etc. I guess all generations see this in the following ones!
Glad to hear that I was not the only one taught that about warming although mine was in the 40s and 50s.
And I agree with you about Lauren's posting! I always enjoy it.
Thanks for sharing your thoughts!
We can abuse the use of substances, if you want to get technical. Sorry for not being more succinct (spelled correctly this time). :-P
Wasn't really trying to be picky but you hit upon a pet peeve of min with the wording. Ever since hearing of someone "abusing drugs" I've had a picture in my mind of someone with a marijuana cigarette laid over a rock and beating it with another rock! Some of the imprecise language and euphemisms used today boggle the mind. Or at least my little pea brain!